SAN FRANCISCO &#8211; The Veterans Health Administration has informed its hospitals and clinics that transgender veterans are eligible for hormones, care before and after gender change surgery, and mental health counseling as part of their regular benefits.

In a directive issued Thursday, the VA reiterated that its facilities are not permitted to perform genital or breast surgeries on veterans in the process of changing genders.

But the agency confirmed that transgender patients are entitled to routine health care that takes their special needs into account and to transgender-specific treatments such as hormone therapy and "non-surgical, supportive care for complications of sex-reassignment surgery."

In accordance with what it termed "the respectful delivery of health care," the VA also instructed medical personnel at its 950 health care centers to refer to transgender veterans in conversation and on medical records by the gender pronoun they prefer, regardless of whether they have undergone surgery.

VA petitioning for right to provide transgender surgeries...VA Wants to Provide Transgender SurgeriesJun 06, 2016 | WASHINGTON -- Sex reassignment surgeries might soon be covered by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA has proposed lifting its ban on the medical procedures, which treat a condition called gender dysphoria and allow a man to live as a woman or vice versa.

The department recently posted a notice and requested public comment on the White House's Office of Management and Budget website. VA's effort to cover the transition-related surgeries comes as the military prepares to allow transgender troops to serve openly and President Barack Obama's administration wrangles with states over the rights of transgender people to use the restrooms of the their choice. The VA says the surgical procedures were not deemed to be "medically necessary" in the past and there were questions over their safety and effectiveness. "However, increased understanding of gender dysphoria and surgical techniques in this area have improved significantly, and surgical procedures are now widely accepted in the medical community as medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria," the VA wrote in the notice.

The department called it a serious medical condition with severe consequences for patients if treatment is not provided. Current VA rules prohibit the department from covering or performing any surgical procedures considered to be gender alterations. Under federal guidelines, changes such as lifting of the VA ban are posted for comment before being executed. In February, the Defense Department proposed adding non-surgical hormone therapy for gender dysphoria into the military's Tricare insurance coverage. The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee shot back at the time, urging that the military not be an "experimental laboratory for social issues." The changes could be laying the groundwork for the Pentagon's plan to allow transgender troops to serve openly. Defense Secretary Ash Carter set a deadline earlier this year for studying the issue but a final directive lifting the prohibition has not yet come.

Meanwhile, the country is struggling over rights for transgender people -- with the focus falling on public restrooms. Eleven states sued the Obama administration in May after it issued a directive to public schools that students should be allowed to use the bathroom of their chosen gender. North Carolina triggered the directive when it led opposition to expanded rights by passing a state law requiring transgender residents to use the public restroom of their gender at birth.

Advocates estimate there could be as many as 15,000 transgender servicemembers, and the number could be much higher among the millions of veterans who use the VA. The VA's proposal was lauded by the American Military Partner Association, which describes itself as the nation's largest organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender military families. "So many veterans rely on the VA for important medical care that they have earned serving our nation, including transgender veterans," AMPA president Ashley Broadway-Mack said in a statement. "Gender confirmation surgery is often a critically important and medically necessary treatment for transgender veterans, and lifting this ban is long overdue."

Long Ordeal for Seattle Worker Who Exposed Veteran's Fraud Jun 06, 2016 | SEATTLE — A federal employee in Seattle helped expose a fraud in which an Army veteran lied his way to a Purple Heart and hundreds of thousands of dollars in government benefits. Her reward?

The agency Cristina Jackson works for repeatedly tried to punish her for what it said were violations of the man's privacy, according to an AP review of hundreds of pages of personnel and investigative records. U.S. Commerce Department officials proposed suspending her for at least a month — even as they reached one of two settlements with the veteran. Darryl Lee Wright was paid for skipped work and legal fees he incurred complaining about a hostile work environment. They tried to downgrade Jackson's annual rating, then proposed a shorter suspension.

Jackson says she has racked up $20,000 in legal bills fighting the discipline. The Commerce Department, which did not respond to requests for comment, has refused to reimburse her. "To this day I don't understand it," Jackson, 55, said. "What does 'vindication' even mean when the agency I work for doesn't see it that way?" Wright, 48, pleaded guilty to federal charges in February, more than six years after Jackson told her bosses that he had submitted fake National Guard orders to be paid for a week of missed work. He's due to be sentenced in August. Through his lawyer he declined an interview request. "Cristina Jackson's willingness to come forward was critical to uncovering the truth," Assistant U.S. Attorney David Reese Jennings said. "But for her actions, law enforcement would not have had what they needed to uncover the fraud."

Commerce Department employee C.J. Jackson poses for a photo in front of the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building where she works, in Seattle.​

Wright joined the Economic Development Administration, a job-promoting agency within the Commerce Department, in 2008. His absences quickly mounted, and he announced he was dealing with PTSD stemming from service in Iraq. Jackson, the office's administrative director, oversaw his attendance records. Late in 2009, Wright asked to convert missed work into paid leave for "emergency" National Guard duty. The orders he provided were unsigned or didn't have his name. Jackson, who previously worked in administrative roles with the Navy and Army reserve, asked for more documentation. He told her to check with the Washington National Guard.

With permission from her boss, that's what she did. The Guard determined Wright "purposely falsified Washington Military Department orders to defraud his civilian employer," according to a December 2009 investigation report . The Commerce Department began planning to fire Wright, according to a memo written by Jackson's immediate boss. But Wright went on the offensive. In 2010 he accused Jackson of violating the Privacy Act by informing the National Guard about his PTSD, the records show. The federal law governs disclosure of personal information kept by federal agencies.

Officials quickly reached the first settlement with Wright. They agreed to allow him to convert up to 240 hours of missed work to sick leave, paid $5,500 for his legal fees, and even required Jackson and others in the office to take a class about PTSD and other combat injuries. After Jackson learned about that settlement, she filed a complaint with the Commerce Department's inspector general, who in 2011 recommended Wright be disciplined "based on the gravity of his misconduct." Those findings made their way to federal prosecutors. In a 2014 indictment, they alleged an audacious scam stemming from a single lie: that Wright was injured in Kirkuk, Iraq, on Aug. 30, 2005.

Vietnam Vets can barely get cancer coverage for exposure to toxic chemicals but the radical end of the V.A. is rich enough to furnish sex change chemicals for freakazoid Vets. Politics trumps health care once again.

And yet I wait for 2 months for an MRI on my back. A procedure I've already went through once before I guess the repeat is because the VA thinks its gotten better. I wonder how long someone has to wait to get their junk cut off or have one added ?

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